Milestone Players Should Be in the Hall of Fame.
Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2020 2:02 pm
There are 26 retired MLB hitters who have 500 homers, and eight of them are not in the Hall of Fame; all of them took steroids. There are 29 retired, eligible players who have 3000 hits, and only Pete "Gamblin' Man" Rose and steroid users are not in the Hall of Fame. In fact, other than Omar Vizquel, who should damn well be in the Hall, no non-steroid player with at least 2775 hits isn't in.
Yet we're about to disqualify three of the top 20 BBA home run hitters of any era because of WAR: Jon Mick, William Moreland, and Rupert Grant, and also #23 (Carlos Gonzales). We've also got people working hard to disqualify the #7 all-time hits leader (Dusty Rhodes), haven't put in #19 yet (Cisco Guerrero; what does the guy have to do?), and #22 and 25 (Dempsey and Leonard).
This is certifiably nuts.
First of all, let's remember what we're voting for here. This is not the Hall of WAR. It's not the Hall of Base Runs. It's the Hall of Fame.
Counting stats matter. The reason why people become famous isn't because they were secretly way more valuable than their numbers suggested. It's because they were doing something at a prolific rate, near or on top of leaderboards, over the course of many seasons that would have made them extremely famous if this was real life. Things like getting 200 hits or 50 homers or 150 RBI.
We are too selective based on the wrong things: hitting 500 homers with the same team, for example, or hitting .330 for a career does matter and would make you very, very famous. I'm going to list things that would have made each of these men famous, starting with the scorned HR hitters and then doing the base hitters. I'm going to simply blow off Cisco Guerrero, who really should just be there already; vote for Cisco Guerrero.
I do have some nos on the above list!
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William Moreland: Moreland made headlines by being one of two top three picks for Des Moines before he ever played a game (the other one was Elwood Blues, who never did much). The first baseman sprung onto the scene as a rookie with 29 home runs in 110 games before leading the league with 48 homers in his second year. He was an overwhelmingly dominant hitter for the next two seasons. From 2028 to 2041 he missed 30 homers in a season once, and had seven 40-homer seasons. Finished with a 141 OPS+, 13th all time, and a .929 OPS, 16th all time. Cornerstone of many bad Des Moines teams. A complete lock in my mind.
Jon Mick: Mick was famous from the moment he was drafted, as it was uncertain as to whether he would be a slugging first baseman or a fireballing pitcher, so lots of buzz. Among right handed batters, only Morris Pennebaker and Emilio Morales had more career home runs. Hit 549 homers in just 14 major league seasons, an average of almost 40 per year, and is also fourteenth all time on the RBI list in just 14 seasons. His RBI total is amazingly prolific: he had an RBI every 5.5 at bats, a higher rate than anyone higher than him on the all time list. You can say those things don't matter, and I'll be happy to tell you that a bases-empty HR gets a lot more WAR than a bases-full double, but one of those things scores three runs. One of just three right handed hitters with multiple 50 homer seasons. Has five of the ten all-time best home run seasons in Madison history, a team that had Bopper and Cricket.
Carlos Gonzales: The hallmark of Gonzales' career was consistency, and while Long Beach briefly lost him in free agency, Gonzales had twelve virtually uninterrupted years with the same franchise. Had one of the truly prolific seasons in BBA history, his .339/65/166 monster in 2031. Other than that, you could absolutely count on Gonzales for 30-40 HR, 90 RBI, and a .300+ batting average virtually every year of his career; he had just five seasons below 30 homers. Held on a bit too long chasing 500 homers, but got the mark. This is a close yes for me, but it's a yes.
Now for the base hitters.
Dusty Rhodes: Dusty Rhodes would have been undeniably famous. When he was drafted, I recall some draft analyst saying that he had a chance to be the best player in baseball. He never was, but there's some buzz. As a 22 year old rookie, led the league in batting average, then followed it up by leading the league in hits, average, and RBI in his second season. Had at least 190 hits in each of his first *sixteen* seasons. Hit .410 at age 35 in 100 games in 2039 while qualifying in the FL, but listed at a "meager" .388 that year because he was traded midseason. He's seventh all time in hits, ninth in career batting average, gave instant credibility to any offense, even if he ended up on first base a lot, and was 26th all time in runs scored.
Steve Dempsey: Dempsey: hits, doubles, and stolen bases. Most people know Dempsey is 22nd among BBA players in hits and might even know he's 9th in stolen bases, but did you know he's also 8th in career doubles? He's 31st in batting average, too; ten seasons hitting .317 or better. Dempsey stole bases at a 77% clip, pretty darn good for a guy that prolific. He was also remarkable at making contact; Dempsey struck out less than every 10 at bats for his career. He had to be: Dempsey didn't walk, so he had to be spectacular at getting hits, which he was. Seven 200-hit seasons, two of the top eleven single-season steals numbers (#2 and #5 in the non-Mons Raider category). Also, in real life I think there's virtually no chance that Dempsey doesn't stick around for one more season to get his last 78 hits for 3000, playing for a crappy Portland team that would have let him, so in my head he's hit the mark.
And there are some No's on this list for me.
Dan Leonard: To me, Leonard has the weakest case on this list purely because he spent the entirety of his productive career in the friendly confines of Calgary, despite having the highest WAR total of this list (other than Moreland and Gonzales). Leonard's WAR totals are heavily padded by sparking first base defense. His best counting total other than hits is triples, and he had more than 35 doubles in a season just once and just two seasons with double digit homers. He stole more than 400 bases but only at a 69% clip. Just three 200-hit seasons, and if he didn't play forever he'd have been virtually unnoticed other than a few seasons where he was near the top of the leaderboard in batting average - and you know there's a ton of people out there who would have said "whatever, he plays in Calgary."
Rupert Grant: The writeup for this isn't as much like Jon Mick as you might think. Grant is 4th on the all-time righty homer list, though his RBI are way behind, in part because Grant had almost a thousand less at bats than Mick; he's behind just seven players as the lowest number of career at bats to hit 500 homers. Grant is also little easier to make a case against, though, because he was so very one-dimensional: Grant was maybe the easiest player to strike out in BBA history long term if he didn't make contact; he also had nine seasons with at least 190 strikeouts and struck out almost one out of every three at bats. Grant also benefitted greatly from the old Calgary ballpark, and had six seasons with more than 40 homers and seven with less than 30.
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To me the difference between Leonard and Grant and the others is the lack of enduring consistency. Leonard spent too many seasons hovering around a regular .300 (and hit just .311 for his career, an okay 70th). The story on Grant would have been one of disappointment; fans would have been looking for the guy who hit 62 homers and watched him hit 25 while striking out 200 times. Both players got too much help from Calgary and simultaneously not enough. As it turns out I'm okay if you vote in either guy, but I wouldn't.
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A player who has one great season is remembered, but one who has one almost every year for some reason is FAMOUS. Remember, people, it's a Hall of FAME. That's for the fans, not for the numbercrunching GMs. The fans remember the people who did amazing things every year and admire them. I have my biases here, but I'm okay if you put every single one of them in the Hall.
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Yet we're about to disqualify three of the top 20 BBA home run hitters of any era because of WAR: Jon Mick, William Moreland, and Rupert Grant, and also #23 (Carlos Gonzales). We've also got people working hard to disqualify the #7 all-time hits leader (Dusty Rhodes), haven't put in #19 yet (Cisco Guerrero; what does the guy have to do?), and #22 and 25 (Dempsey and Leonard).
This is certifiably nuts.
First of all, let's remember what we're voting for here. This is not the Hall of WAR. It's not the Hall of Base Runs. It's the Hall of Fame.
Counting stats matter. The reason why people become famous isn't because they were secretly way more valuable than their numbers suggested. It's because they were doing something at a prolific rate, near or on top of leaderboards, over the course of many seasons that would have made them extremely famous if this was real life. Things like getting 200 hits or 50 homers or 150 RBI.
We are too selective based on the wrong things: hitting 500 homers with the same team, for example, or hitting .330 for a career does matter and would make you very, very famous. I'm going to list things that would have made each of these men famous, starting with the scorned HR hitters and then doing the base hitters. I'm going to simply blow off Cisco Guerrero, who really should just be there already; vote for Cisco Guerrero.
I do have some nos on the above list!
==============================================================
William Moreland: Moreland made headlines by being one of two top three picks for Des Moines before he ever played a game (the other one was Elwood Blues, who never did much). The first baseman sprung onto the scene as a rookie with 29 home runs in 110 games before leading the league with 48 homers in his second year. He was an overwhelmingly dominant hitter for the next two seasons. From 2028 to 2041 he missed 30 homers in a season once, and had seven 40-homer seasons. Finished with a 141 OPS+, 13th all time, and a .929 OPS, 16th all time. Cornerstone of many bad Des Moines teams. A complete lock in my mind.
Jon Mick: Mick was famous from the moment he was drafted, as it was uncertain as to whether he would be a slugging first baseman or a fireballing pitcher, so lots of buzz. Among right handed batters, only Morris Pennebaker and Emilio Morales had more career home runs. Hit 549 homers in just 14 major league seasons, an average of almost 40 per year, and is also fourteenth all time on the RBI list in just 14 seasons. His RBI total is amazingly prolific: he had an RBI every 5.5 at bats, a higher rate than anyone higher than him on the all time list. You can say those things don't matter, and I'll be happy to tell you that a bases-empty HR gets a lot more WAR than a bases-full double, but one of those things scores three runs. One of just three right handed hitters with multiple 50 homer seasons. Has five of the ten all-time best home run seasons in Madison history, a team that had Bopper and Cricket.
Carlos Gonzales: The hallmark of Gonzales' career was consistency, and while Long Beach briefly lost him in free agency, Gonzales had twelve virtually uninterrupted years with the same franchise. Had one of the truly prolific seasons in BBA history, his .339/65/166 monster in 2031. Other than that, you could absolutely count on Gonzales for 30-40 HR, 90 RBI, and a .300+ batting average virtually every year of his career; he had just five seasons below 30 homers. Held on a bit too long chasing 500 homers, but got the mark. This is a close yes for me, but it's a yes.
Now for the base hitters.
Dusty Rhodes: Dusty Rhodes would have been undeniably famous. When he was drafted, I recall some draft analyst saying that he had a chance to be the best player in baseball. He never was, but there's some buzz. As a 22 year old rookie, led the league in batting average, then followed it up by leading the league in hits, average, and RBI in his second season. Had at least 190 hits in each of his first *sixteen* seasons. Hit .410 at age 35 in 100 games in 2039 while qualifying in the FL, but listed at a "meager" .388 that year because he was traded midseason. He's seventh all time in hits, ninth in career batting average, gave instant credibility to any offense, even if he ended up on first base a lot, and was 26th all time in runs scored.
Steve Dempsey: Dempsey: hits, doubles, and stolen bases. Most people know Dempsey is 22nd among BBA players in hits and might even know he's 9th in stolen bases, but did you know he's also 8th in career doubles? He's 31st in batting average, too; ten seasons hitting .317 or better. Dempsey stole bases at a 77% clip, pretty darn good for a guy that prolific. He was also remarkable at making contact; Dempsey struck out less than every 10 at bats for his career. He had to be: Dempsey didn't walk, so he had to be spectacular at getting hits, which he was. Seven 200-hit seasons, two of the top eleven single-season steals numbers (#2 and #5 in the non-Mons Raider category). Also, in real life I think there's virtually no chance that Dempsey doesn't stick around for one more season to get his last 78 hits for 3000, playing for a crappy Portland team that would have let him, so in my head he's hit the mark.
And there are some No's on this list for me.
Dan Leonard: To me, Leonard has the weakest case on this list purely because he spent the entirety of his productive career in the friendly confines of Calgary, despite having the highest WAR total of this list (other than Moreland and Gonzales). Leonard's WAR totals are heavily padded by sparking first base defense. His best counting total other than hits is triples, and he had more than 35 doubles in a season just once and just two seasons with double digit homers. He stole more than 400 bases but only at a 69% clip. Just three 200-hit seasons, and if he didn't play forever he'd have been virtually unnoticed other than a few seasons where he was near the top of the leaderboard in batting average - and you know there's a ton of people out there who would have said "whatever, he plays in Calgary."
Rupert Grant: The writeup for this isn't as much like Jon Mick as you might think. Grant is 4th on the all-time righty homer list, though his RBI are way behind, in part because Grant had almost a thousand less at bats than Mick; he's behind just seven players as the lowest number of career at bats to hit 500 homers. Grant is also little easier to make a case against, though, because he was so very one-dimensional: Grant was maybe the easiest player to strike out in BBA history long term if he didn't make contact; he also had nine seasons with at least 190 strikeouts and struck out almost one out of every three at bats. Grant also benefitted greatly from the old Calgary ballpark, and had six seasons with more than 40 homers and seven with less than 30.
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To me the difference between Leonard and Grant and the others is the lack of enduring consistency. Leonard spent too many seasons hovering around a regular .300 (and hit just .311 for his career, an okay 70th). The story on Grant would have been one of disappointment; fans would have been looking for the guy who hit 62 homers and watched him hit 25 while striking out 200 times. Both players got too much help from Calgary and simultaneously not enough. As it turns out I'm okay if you vote in either guy, but I wouldn't.
==============================================
A player who has one great season is remembered, but one who has one almost every year for some reason is FAMOUS. Remember, people, it's a Hall of FAME. That's for the fans, not for the numbercrunching GMs. The fans remember the people who did amazing things every year and admire them. I have my biases here, but I'm okay if you put every single one of them in the Hall.
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